He’ll take it shaken, not stirred.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 33, has reportedly been offered the role of the next James Bond, sources told the Sun.
The “Bullet Train” actor is expected to sign on the dotted line this week, the outlet adds.
He would succeed Daniel Craig, 56, who has played the famous secret agent for five films, starting with 2006’s “Casino Royale” and ending with 2021’s “No Time to Die.”
He’d also succeed a line-up that has included Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore and Sean Connery.
Taylor-Johnson isn’t a household name, but if he becomes the next 007, he will be.
Here’s everything to know about him.
His first big movie
Taylor-Johnson (née Johnson) began as a child actor. Early roles include 2008’s “Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging,” but he really rose to prominence starring in the “Kick-Ass” franchise in 2010 (as well as that movie’s 2013 sequel). He also starred as John Lennon, in the 2009 biopic “Nowhere Boy,” where he met his wife, director Sam Taylor-Johnson, 57.
He was also in a “Godzilla” movie (in 2014), the 2012 period drama “Anna Karenina” with Kiera Knightley, 2016’s “Nocturnal Animals,” Christopher Nolan’s film “Tenet” starring Robert Pattinson and the 2022 assassin movie “Bullet Train” with Brad Pitt.
His marriage and age gap controversy
Aaron met his wife, Sam (who directed 2015’s “Fifty Shades of Grey”) when he was reportedly 18 years old, and Sam was 42. She’s 24 years older than him.
Sam had two daughters from a previous marriage — the oldest of whom was just seven years younger than Aaron. The two tied the knot in 2012.
The couple then had two children together. All together, their four daughters include Angelica, 25, Jessie Phoenix, 16, Wylda Rae, 13, and Romy Hero, 11.
Aaron has never accused Sam of “grooming,” him, and nor have any of their family and friends.
In a rare joint interview with Harper’s Bazaar in 2019, the couple claimed that there was “no funny business at all” during filming.
“As soon as we finished [filming], he told me he was going to marry me. We had never been on a date, or even kissed,” Sam told the publication, with Aaron adding that he proposed in 2009, “exactly one year to the minute” after they met.
Aaron rarely talks about his marriage, but during an August 2023 interview with Esquire, he said about their relationship, “I’ve got really nothing to hide, and I’m secure in what we have.”
But that doesn’t stop social media naysayers from speculating, and throwing the word “grooming” around whenever he comes up.
“the fact aaron taylor johnson started dating his wife when he was 19 years old and she was 42….. is that not grooming?” one skeptic posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“Everyone talking about Leonardo DiCaprio being a predator is a hypocrite. Aaron Taylor Johnson’s wife was a 42 year old director when she met him at 18 on a film where she was his boss. They married 3 years later. She a predator too? Or is this just “boss bitch” behavior?” another person commented.
“I don’t think people think that Aaron Taylor Johnson’s victimhood is real. They see him as a hot guy ‘trapped’ with a woman they feel isn’t desirable enough for him but they don’t see him as an actual victim of grooming because it’s constantly being turned into a punchline,” another person wrote.
His superhero roles
Taylor-Johnson is no stranger to superhero movies: “Kick-Ass” was a superhero parody, but he still played a vigilante. He played the MCU character Pietro Maximoff in 2015’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and he’s set to appear in the superhero film “Kraven the Hunter,” which is scheduled for an August 30 release.
